BJP releases second list of candidates, fields Gamliyel Hembrom against JMM chief Hemant Soren in Barhait

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], October 28 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released their second of candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly elections on Monday.

The party has announced two candidates, Gamliyel Hembrom to contest from the Barhait constituency and Vikash Mahato to contest from the Tundi constituency.

Hembrom will be in the electoral fray against Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Hemant Soren, who is contesting from Barhait. Hemant Soren has retained the seat since 2014.

In the Tundi constituency, the battle will be between Vikash Mahato and JMM candidate Mathura Prasad Mahato, who won the 2019 assembly election with more than 72 thousand votes. He beat BJP’s Vikram Pandey, who came second with 46 thousand votes.

Earlier on October 19, the BJP had announced its list of 66 candidates.

The party’s state chief Babulal Marandi is going to contest the election from Dhanwar, Lobin Hembrom from Borio and Sita Soren from Jamtara. Former CM Champai Soren is contesting from Saraikella.

Earlier on Friday, it announced the list of 40-star campaigners for the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections.

The list includes the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari Dharmendra Pradhan and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

BJP CMs such as Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Nayab Singh Saini (Haryana), Mohan Majhi Himanta Biswa Sarma and Vishnu Deo Sai (Chhattisgarh) are also among the star campaigners.

The electoral battle is between two main alliances in the state, with the ruling Congress-JMM alliance, along with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) already distributing most of the tickets to their candidates.

Similarly, The BJP along with All Jharkhand Student Union (AJSU), Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have also decided on most of their candidates. While BJP will contest 68 seats, AJSU will contest 10 seats, and JD(U) and LJP will contest two and one seat respectively.

The 81 seat Jharkhand assembly will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20. Votes will be on November 23.

A total of 2.60 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in Jharkhand and there are 1.31 crore male and 1.29 crore female voters. The state has 11.84 lakh first-time voters.